The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins - A Short Summary & Review
The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins - A Short Summary & Review
By: a.d. elliott | Take the Back Roads - Art and Other Odd Adventures
A Rite of Fancy Book Recommendation and Review
A short summary:
The Moonstone centers on the theft of a legendary diamond said to carry a curse, an event that ripples through an English country house and beyond. As suspicion shifts from character to character, Collins unfolds the story through multiple narrators, each offering partial truths shaped by bias, secrecy, and circumstance.
What emerges is a carefully engineered puzzle about evidence, memory, and motive, one that asks readers not only who took the diamond, but how certainty itself can be distorted. The brilliance of the novel lies in its methodical accumulation of detail, turning observation into both weapon and trap.
My favorite quote from the book:
Questions to ponder while reading:
My review:
I know who took the diamond… I think.
Wilkie Collins writes with a lot of detail, and in this case, the detail is the point. The Moonstone rewards patience, asking readers to track voices, habits, and seemingly trivial facts that later reveal their importance.
It’s a great mystery—foundational to the genre, in fact, but it’s also an exercise in attention. Collins understands how easily the mind fills gaps and how confident we become in our own conclusions.
And yes, it does make you wonder: do all diamonds come with a curse? Or do we simply project meaning onto objects powerful enough to tempt us? Either way, this is a deeply satisfying puzzle, one that lingers long after the final page.
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About the Author
a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller traveling through life
She shares her journeys at Take the Back Roads, explores new reads at Rite of Fancy, and highlights U.S. military biographies at Everyday Patriot.
You can also browse her online photography gallery at shop.takethebackroads.com.
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